Late misfortuneNigel Worthington's side had come undone against Latvia at the weekend when Chris Baird put through his own net and this time it was Gillespie's turn, directing the ball past his own goalkeeper with just seconds remaining. The hosts had taken an early lead when Ármann Björnsson fired into the roof of the net after just six minutes but, after dominating for long spells, the visitors equalised through David Healy's 72nd-minute penalty only for Gillespie's miscue to seriously dent his side's prospects of qualification.

Early openerNorthern Ireland almost made the breakthrough inside the first minute with Warren Feeney testing Árni Arason with a fierce shot, but it was Iceland who took the lead when Björnsson drilled in Gunnar Heidar Thorvaldsson's centre after a swift move. Northern Ireland raised the tempo and Gary Clinghan fired wide before Jonny Evans somehow skied his close-range shot over the bar after Arason had pushed away a free-kick from Chris Brunt.

Brunt chanceBrunt was unlucky not to equalise in the 51st minute when his ferocious 25-metre shot cannoned back off the bar with Arason beaten. Michael Duff then got on the end of a Brunt corner but was unable to put enough power on his strike. The visitors finally drew level when Healy scored his 12th goal of the campaign from the spot after being upended by Ragnar Sigurdsson. Yet in added time Gillespie turned into his own net under pressure from Eidur Gudjohnsen to leave Northern Ireland three points off the Group F summit having played a game more than Sweden and Spain.